How To Get Rid Of Those Annoying Mac Update Notifications

Mac: Software updates are usually a good thing. They can bring new features and important security updates to whatever device you're using with little to no effort on your part. If you have a Mac computer, however, you're probably sick and tired of seeing that same "Updates Available" notification pop-up on your computer every day.

It doesn't matter how often I let my computer update, there's almost always another software patch waiting for me the next morning. Luckily, there are a few ways to get rid of them depending on how responsible (or irresponsible) you want to be. Here's what you need to know.

How to Get Rid of Mac Update Notifications the Responsible Way

If you want to keep your computer updated but you're fed up with all those notifications there's an easy solution (courtesy of Softpedia). All you have to do is open System Preferences on your Mac and select "App Store". Then click "Install macOS Updates (or "Install OS X Updates" for older software).

With that out of the way, your computer should be able to update automatically. That should mean the end to all those notifications without any nagging fears that you're missing out on an important security patch.

The Irresponsible Way

If you'd rather just ignore all of Apple's Mac updates entirely, that's your call. We won't judge, though you might be opening yourself up to attack as new vulnerabilities are revealed. If that doesn't bother you, here's what to do.

Head back to your Mac's App Store settings in System Preferences. Then uncheck "Download newly available updates in the background". This will completely stop the stream of software updates and notifications. Just don't blame us if you miss an important patch.

How to Only Disable High Sierra Notifications

If you're running an older computer you may want to keep installing smaller updates while avoiding the major operating system upgrades that could slow down your Mac. High Sierra, Apple's latest big update, comes with a notification that's even harder to dismiss than usual (your only choice is to install it or see more details), but there's a way to make those alerts disappear entirely.

MakeUseOf offers up two different ways to mute the High Sierra notification forever. The first (and easier) method is to launch the Mac App Store and click on Updates. You should see a big banner for High Sierra at the top of the page. Right click (or hold down the Control button and click) anywhere on the image and then select the Hide Update button that pops up.

That should do the trick, but if it doesn't work there is another option that's a little more complicated. First, open Finder and press the Shift, Command and G keys simultaneously to launch "Go to Folder". Next, type "/Library/Bundles" into the dialogue box and you should see a file titled "OSXNotification.bundle".

Finally, delete the file or move it somewhere else on your computer - you'll have to enter your computer password to confirm. Restart your computer and once it reboots you should be free from those High Sierra update notifications forever.

Comments

If you'd rather just ignore all of Apple's Mac updates entirely, that's your call. We won't judge, though you might be opening yourself up to attack as new vulnerabilities are revealed. If that doesn't bother you, here's what to do.

While I get that not updating is not wise, I for one have a reason to disable automatic updates.

I'm a self-employed programmer so my system goes down for updates, its on my time.

So, I turn automatic updates off and routinely check every couple of weeks and apply updates every month after I've completed my backups.

Also, getting the latest update is not always wise. The Spectre and Meltdown updates having flaws are an example of this.

Over all, I wouldn't say turning updates off is irresponsible - some may have reasons and their own timetable that they manage.

I prefer to keep all notifications off all the time. I don't need to be interrupted 100s of times a day because the computer thinks every email, song change, and growl deserves my utmost attention. Simply set do not disturb to be permanently on from 00:00 to 23:59. Life becomes much less distracting.

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